Technological milestones that changed Brazil's role in corn production: 30 years of growth to become an important player on the world stage, a review

Abstract

Corn has experienced a true revolution in Brazil in the last 30 years (agricultural harvests from 1991/92 to 2021/2022). Currently, the country has established itself as the third producer and second exporter worldwide of this cereal, with a production of more than 100 million tons of this grain per agricultural year. In this period, soybean cultivation stands out as the great driver of technological advances, leading corn and other crops to more prominent positions and transforming grain production systems; previously monoculture or rotation, to more intensified systems, with two (or more) agricultural crops per year in the same area. The Brazilian Cerrado region, previously considered unsuitable for agriculture, is today the great barn of grain production in Brazil. In these three decades of escalation in corn production, some legal and technological milestones stand out, such as the Law for the Protection of Cultivars and its regulations (since 1997), the direct sowing system, the cultivation of corn in the second harvest (after soybean), and the use of biotechnologies. These factors were decisive for the growth of maize production to exceed by more than 3.6 times the volume of the 1991/92 agricultural season, while the area devoted to maize cultivation increased only 1.5 times. Increases in productivity are linked to technologies and knowledge applied to the management of production systems, soybean-corn, and not only in an isolated crop; allowing greater advances in the gross production of both grains (recent yields in the corn harvest are about 2.5 times higher than 30 years ago). This article shows data and facts that allowed Brazil to get out of a position of vulnerability, in terms of corn supply, to become an important player in the production and marketing of this cereal worldwide.